Youth Incorporated Magazine

The earth has witnessed some really dangerous natural calamities the previous year itself like the Japan floods which killed 220 people, heat wave in Karachi, Pakistan with the temperature soaring to 104 degrees Fahrenheit that claimed 180 lives, flood in the Indian states of Kerala which were the worst floods recorded in the last 100 years, killed more than 300 people, and earthquake in Indonesia having a magnitude of 6.9 killed 468. These are just a few examples and the list of such natural disasters can go on and on.

The rampant occurrences of these natural disasters indicate the adverse impact of human actions on nature and environment.

Every year the world celebrates World Environment Day on 5^th June. On this day several NGOs and environment-centric bodies, private as well as public, join hands to take steps to save our planet. This year, World Environment Day is going to focus on the issue of air pollution.

While all these bodies are going to contribute towards keeping the environment free from air pollution, you too must do something at an individual level. To pump up and encourage the Indian citizens to participate in the “Beat Air Pollution” initiate, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released a song ‘Hawa Aane De’ which is sung by Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan and Shantanu Mukherjee.  The song also features some of the eminent Indian faces like Akshay Kumar, Vicky Kaushal, Rajkumar Rao and Kapil Sharma. 

While you listen to this song which has already become popular among the netizens, here are a few simple things you can do on your part (not just for this day, but even otherwise) to reduce air pollution:

• Avoid using personal transportation (private cars, cabs). Use public transport like local trains, metro and buses.
• Use products that can be recycled and reused
• Undertake proper waste management system. Do not burn the waste.
• Use CNG fuel for your vehicles
• Plant trees or purchase a small plant and keep at least one at home.
• Utilize solar energy
• Quit or reduce smoking
• Avoid using deodorants or any other product that releases chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)

Each step you take on micro level is going to act as a building block in making the environment clean and the world a safe place to live.

Untimely rains, extreme climates, droughts, scanty rainfall, global warming touching peaks, increasing levels of pollutions, and other alarming factors are degrading the environment. Although these problems seem big for an individual to solve at a micro level, it can make a huge difference if we all do our bit.